The Book of the Law Study Group 2.52

Grigori

Aiwass said:
52. There is a veil: that veil is black. It is the veil of the modest woman; it is the veil of sorrow, & the pall of death: this is none of me. Tear down that lying spectre of the centuries: veil not your vices in virtuous words: these vices are my service; ye do well, & I will reward you here and hereafter.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/oto/index.htm
http://hermetic.com/crowley/index.html
http://lib.oto-usa.org/libri/liber0220.html

Other threads in this study group

Always Wondering

Oh boy. I've been waiting for this one. I don't quite understand what sorrow has to do with modesty. Or the pall of death. It would make sense to me if it said shame, but it doesn't. And what about virtuous words?

Speak up everyone, please.

AW

thorhammer

I think the veil is a metaphor for social expectations, and religious misinterpretation. Veils have been worn in some cultures when one is mourning, hence sorrow. But mourning the death of a fellow soul seems to have no place in this Book, does it, really?

Veils have been thrust upon (and actively sought by, in some cases) women in some cultures, hence modesty. But as you pointed out, the other side of the "modesty" coin is "shame", and again, that has no place here.

Of vices and virtuous words, I would suggest that this refers to the misinterpretation of sacred texts, again. The Bible and other sacred texts have been used to justify heinous acts of prejudice through the centuries - hence, vices are hidden behind a veil of virtuous words. "These vices are my service" - I think this says that to water down our natures according to social niceties is to deny the Gods their due. Not everything is nice.

Why hide our light, the light of our Star? Black ties this verse to the black brotherhood and the implications of misguided action, of downright wilful wrongdoing against oneself and others.

\m/ Kat

Aeon418

thorhammer said:
I think the veil is a metaphor for social expectations, and religious misinterpretation.

I think the veil is a metaphor for anything that covers and hides the True Self. It is black because it absorbs the light of the True Self, which is always trying to shine outwards the radiant glory of LVX.
It could also indicate that the veil is the Osirian (black) world view that needs tearing down.

The veil of the modest woman? If a woman is naturally modest she has no need of a veil of modesty. She's already being true to her own nature. But if this isn't the case, then society insists that she hides her self behind a pretense of modesty. Living a lie is a blasphemy against your own Truth. And that Truth requires no apology or consent from others. Of course that doesn't mean you have the right to force your Truth on others and insist they accomodate you. That's more like a tyrant trying to subjugate others. A meeting of Kings has a very different quality.

The veil of sorrow? In II:9 Hadit tells us that existence is pure joy. Sorrow is shadow that passes and is done. But sometimes we refuse to let go of these shadows of sorrow. We cling onto them and wrap ourselves up in them. This is my pain! This is my anguish! This is my suffering. This is me!
Some people submit and wear the veil. Other's have the gift of being able to cast it behind them like a shadow, a useless worn out cloak. For others pain and trauma are the catalyst of great deeds.

The pall of death? A pall is a covering drapped over a coffin. I suppose in one sense it could be symbolic of the ways in which we try to hide from truth. We don't want to see the coffin and be forced to think about death. This is true of many things we don't want to see or acknowledge.
I keep thinking of the dead Osiris, the black god, representing the four elements, IHVH. But I'm not sure if that works because that veil needs to be parted, not torn down. IH-Sh-VH.

Always Wondering

thorhammer said:
Of vices and virtuous words, I would suggest that this refers to the misinterpretation of sacred texts, again. The Bible and other sacred texts have been used to justify heinous acts of prejudice through the centuries - hence, vices are hidden behind a veil of virtuous words. "These vices are my service" - I think this says that to water down our natures according to social niceties is to deny the Gods their due. Not everything is nice.

\m/ Kat

I hadn't thought of it that way. Thanks Kat.

Aeon418 said:
The veil of the modest woman? If a woman is naturally modest she has no need of a veil of modesty. She's already being true to her own nature. But if this isn't the case, then society insists that she hides her self behind a pretense of modesty. Living a lie is a blasphemy against your own Truth. And that Truth requires no apology or consent from others. Of course that doesn't mean you have the right to force your Truth on others and insist they accomodate you. That's more like a tyrant trying to subjugate others. A meeting of Kings has a very different quality.

You know, it hadn't occured to me that there are naturally modest women.

I just figured we were all trained.

Aeon418 said:
The veil of sorrow? In II:9 Hadit tells us that existence is pure joy. Sorrow is shadow that passes and is done. But sometimes we refuse to let go of these shadows of sorrow. We cling onto them and wrap ourselves up in them. This is my pain! This is my anguish! This is my suffering. This is me!
Some people submit and wear the veil. Other's have the gift of being able to cast it behind them like a shadow, a useless worn out cloak. For others pain and trauma are the catalyst of great deeds.

This makes sense.

Aeon418 said:
The pall of death? A pall is a covering drapped over a coffin. I suppose in one sense it could be symbolic of the ways in which we try to hide from truth. We don't want to see the coffin and be forced to think about death. This is true of many things we don't want to see or acknowledge.

So you don't think this is a gender specific verse? In my head it's all mixed up with Chapter XV Sex Morality in Magick Without Tears.

For Binah, even while she winks a Chokmah, has the other eye wide-open, swivelled on Tiphareth. Her True Will is thus divided by Nature from the start, and her tragedy is if she fails to unite these two objects. Oh, dear me, yes, I know all about "spretæ injuria formæ" and "furens quid femina possit"; but that is only because when she misses her bite she feels doubly baffled, robbed not only of the ecstatic Present, but of the glamorous Future. If she eat independently of the Fruit of the Tree of Life when unripe, she has not only the bad taste in the mouth, but indigestion to follow. Then, living as she does so much in the world of imagination, constantly living shadow-pictures of her Desire, she is not nearly so liable to the violent insanities of sheer blind lust, as is the male. The essential difference is indicated by that of their respective orgasms, the female undulatory, the male catastrophic.

I was hoping one might explain the other. :laugh:

Aeon418 said:
I keep thinking of the dead Osiris, the black god, representing the four elements, IHVH. But I'm not sure if that works because that veil needs to be parted, not torn down. IH-Sh-VH.

Okay you lost me here. I thought the veil was to be pierced, as in the High Priestess. IH-Sh-VH, the pentragram?

AW

Aeon418

Always Wondering said:
You know, it hadn't occured to me that there are naturally modest women. I just figured we were all trained.

I think there's a whole spectrum, and room for lots of variety. At one end you've got a Dionysian Bacchanal. At the other a demure Isis. Do what thou wilt.

Always Wondering said:
So you don't think this is a gender specific verse?

It most certainly can be gender specific. But that does not preclude other interpretations. I think that same principle is true throughout the book.

Always Wondering said:
In my head it's all mixed up with Chapter XV Sex Morality in Magick Without Tears.

Once the fog of lust descends your average male would probably trample over his own mother just to get a piece of ass. :laugh:

That's not necessarily true for women. She may be consumed by the same fires of passion that afflict the male, but then again she may have an ulterior motive for luring a mate into her boudoir. Come into my parlour, said the spider to the fly.

This is what Crowley means by winking at Chokmah with an eye fixed on Tiphareth. In this case Tiphareth may mean a child, status, marriage, property, gold, etc.

Always Wondering said:
Okay you lost me here. I thought the veil was to be pierced, as in the High Priestess. IH-Sh-VH, the pentragram?

Piercing and parting aren't necessarily incompatible modes of action. How on earth can I explain it without being too graphic? When something goes into something else, that something has to part like a veil. Get the picture? :laugh:

Always Wondering

Aeon418 said:
I think there's a whole spectrum, and room for lots of variety. At one end you've got a Dionysian Bacchanal. At the other a demure Isis. Do what thou wilt.

Yep, it makes sense now that I think about it.

Aeon418 said:
It most certainly can be gender specific. But that does not preclude other interpretations. I think that same principle is true throughout the book.

I guess 1/10 of 1% makes all the difference.

Aeon418 said:
Once the fog of lust descends your average male would probably trample over his own mother just to get a piece of ass. That's not necessarily true for women. She may be consumed by the same fires of passion that afflict the male, but then again she may have an ulterior motive for luring a mate into her boudoir. Come into my parlour, said the spider to the fly. This is what Crowley means by winking at Chokmah with an eye fixed on Tiphareth. In this case Tiphareth may mean a child, status, marriage, property, gold, etc.

Piercing and parting aren't necessarily incompatible modes of action. How on earth can I explain it without being too graphic? When something goes into something else, that something has to part like a veil. Get the picture?

Oh, okay. And here I thought it was something highly esoteric and over my head. :laugh:

I was all ready for a Qabalah lesson. :laugh:

I think I read too much Crowley today.

AW

Aeon418

Always Wondering said:
I guess 1/10 of 1% makes all the difference.

That's it! :laugh:

Another example is the Scarlet Woman of chapter III. She could be gender specific on one level. On another level she may be symbolic of the nephesch, the instinctual side of a man or a woman. And on another completely different level altogether she may represent a Master of the Temple 8=3.

Aeon418

Always Wondering said:
Yep, it makes sense now that I think about it.

Another way to think of it is by contemplating the Empress as alchemical salt. The circle with a line through it. Two "seemingly" contradictory halves making one whole. The Whore of Babalon and the Virgin Mary in One woman. I think this is one reason why many people think the Harris' painting of the Empress looks a little odd, as if two separate images had been stuck together.

Another thing to consider is the two grade signs for the Babe of the Abyss. Puella, the chaste Virgin. And Mulier, the all receptive mother. Below the abyss these two are a contradiction. Above the abyss they are the two halves of One Cup. No wonder, from the male perspective, women are a wonderful but baffling enigma. :laugh:

In the Aeon of Osiris one half of the symbol of salt was outlawed. Any woman who dared to openly express it was branded a whore. Of course this attitude was fundamentally hypocritcal. Males instinctually lust for that aspect, and so it had to demonized and cast as a wicked temptation. Rubbish! Veil not your vices in virtuous words!
One way of looking at the symbolism of Babalon is as a reclamation of the full woman. Taking back what was once forbidden. And if anyone doesn't like it, tough! :laugh:

CastleCrest

Originally Posted by Aiwass
52. There is a veil: that veil is black. It is the veil of the modest woman; it is the veil of sorrow, & the pall of death: this is none of me. Tear down that lying spectre of the centuries: veil not your vices in virtuous words: these vices are my service; ye do well, & I will reward you here and hereafter.

this is none of me - these are the key words IMHO.
The world has created what they call virtuous behaviors &
claim they are the path to salvation - these are lies - even thou repeated
by so many (lying spectre of the centuries).

these vices are my service; ye do well, & I will reward you here and hereafter

Nothing stands in the way of truth - it is the lusting of life that shows this.
Never mind what you have been told, do anything for the right reasons
& find the sacred truth that shall be the proof.

I will reward you here and hereafter.
Once you find the "Truth" it is today as it is always.

DO as thou Wilt _but_ Harm None!

The Book of the Law Study Group 2.52

Grigori

Always Wondering

thorhammer

Aeon418

Always Wondering

Aeon418

Always Wondering

Aeon418

Aeon418

CastleCrest